Cary agrees to spend up to $250K for outside investigation, employee ‘engagement’
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- Cary council approves up to $250,000 for outside law and communication firms.
- The two companies were hired after former Town Manager Sean Stegall resigned
- Council debated the cost of employee focus groups as part this review
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Cary under scrutiny
The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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Cary town leaders will spend up to $250,000 to hire an outside law firm and communication consulting firm in the aftermath of former Town Manager Sean Stegall’s resignation.
Stegall was put on paid administrative leave in November and ultimately resigned in December after 10 years as the town’s top staff member amid concerns over questionable town spending, a lack of transparency and unhealthy work environment for town employees.
On Thursday night, the Town Council voted unanimously to spend up to $150,000 to hire the Womble Bond Dickinson law firm and $100,000 to hire CRA | Admired Leadership, a leadership and strategic communication consulting firm.
The law firm will examine Stegall’s and others’ spending with procurement cards and reimbursements, according to a Jan. 15 letter from the firm.
CRA | Admired Leadership will conduct an “employee engagement plan,” which will include focus groups and an employee survey, something council leaders say they asked for during Stegall’s tenure but didn’t happen.
The vote came after a lengthy discussion about spending more money when town expenses already are being scrutinized. But members decided doing so would help the town move forward.
“When there’s an oil spill, oil companies can’t throw up their hands and say they don’t want to spend money to clean up the spill,” said council member Brittany Richardson.
“You don’t get to say, ‘Well, we’ve made a mess. I don’t want to spend more money, so we’ll leave the mess as is,’” she said. “And that’s just unfortunately where we find ourselves right now.”
Before the unanimous vote, Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush said she would support the motion but wished there would be a phased approach to the employee component.
The hiring of a law firm is in addition to other outside investigations into the town’s financial issues.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and Cary’s police chief asked the State Bureau of Investigation to open a criminal probe into town spending, including transactions made by Stegall. That occurred after the State Auditor’s Office shared information on “potential criminal activity.”
Use of town procurement card
Stegall’s and the town’s spending is being investigated following a series of reports by The News & Observer and others that included $150,000 spent to produce a book that highlighted Stegall’s leadership and money spent on a pricey hotel he stayed in during an out-of-town conference.
The town also paid for $37,397 for a portion of Bush’s master’s degree tuition without the full council’s knowledge, The N&O previously reported. Bush has since reimbursed the town.
An N&O review of spending on Stegall’s town-issued procurement card included a high-end speaker system delivered to a home address and expensive out-of-town dinners classified as training expenses.
The letter from Womble Bond Dickinson outlines the scope of its investigation:
- Examining procurement card use and reimbursement of town funds and expenditures by Stegall, council members and senior staff and “others who directly supported the former town manager” from July 1, 2021, to Nov. 20, 2025.
- Examining Stegall’s reporting of town finances to the council from July 1, 2021, to Nov. 20, 2025, and identifying written recommendations to the council and the public “methods, policies and practices to increase transparency and understanding between town managers, the full town council, town staff and citizens.”
- Reviewing the “work environment” created by Stegall from July 1, 2021, to Nov. 20, 2025, and providing written policies and practices to “create a work environment better aligned with the town’s values and culture.”
The letter outlines the cost of this work, to be billed at $644 per hour, for a maximum of $150,000. The letter says Womble Bond will not comment, make statements or provide news releases to the media without approval by the town attorney.
“The Womble effort is more focused on what has already happened, and we’ll talk to potentially past employees who have reached out and shared concerns and perhaps some current employees,” Town Attorney Lisa Glover said at Thursday’s meeting.
Employee relations
An anonymous, outside employee survey must be done now with urgency, Bush said. Council members agreed that an outside agency is needed to speak with employees.
The last employee surveys were in 2012 and 2015, before Stegall was hired in 2016, according to the council agenda.
“Our employees are carrying the weight right now of rapid change, of intense public scrutiny and significant high expectations,” Bush said. “And we need a clear and honest picture of how they’re experiencing this moment in time.
“We also need to help them succeed where they’re struggling and without the data to actually know, because we are a data-driven organization, we’re leading in the dark.”
However, she said she’d be in favor of waiting on the focus groups until a later time given recent concerns about spending.
Council member Carissa Kohn-Johnson said she initially pushed back at the cost. But after doing some calculations, she said the cost comes down to about $75 per employee, a cost that felt reasonable.
The town has almost 1,300 employees, said interim Town Manager Russ Overton.
“Right now, we have been saying, ‘Gosh, I didn’t know about that. I wish I knew about that,’’’ Kohn-Johnson said. “I’ve said that too many times to be comfortable in the last couple of months. This investment is a way for us to know more.”
Council member Sarika Bansal agreed, saying the town needs “to do a complete health check on where the organization stands.
“We cannot come back after one year and say, ‘Oops, we should have done a more fuller assessment on the organization.’ So this, in my view, is critical.”
Some residents addressed the controversies during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Hanif Williams said he recommended that elected officials hold a town hall meeting where residents could ask questions, and that he was told one was planned.
“Until this council gets this fire that you all ignited in a way where people can be heard, it’s going to continue to burn, and it will not be extinguished,” he said.
Reporter Nathan Collins contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Cary agrees to spend up to $250K for outside investigation, employee ‘engagement’."
